SBI Bingo Season One

9. Hanahaki

Hanahaki. Everyone knew what Hanahaki was. And if they didn't, they learned quickly. Tommy sure had, but why wasn't a good thing. Tommy thought that his friends had cared about him, he had guessed wrong, he thought bitterly as he coughed on another Yellow Tulip.

Ironic, he thought as he saw it. Yellow Tulips represented One Sided Love. Tommy closed his eyes as he stayed hidden in his dirt shack. No one needed to know, right? He was fine. He wasn't going to die, because if they didn't care about him, then he wouldn't care about them.

Easier said than done.

"Hey Tommy! How are you? We haven't seen you around recently?" Tubbo asked, worry in his voice that sounded too sweet to be real, it was obviously fake. And both knew it.

"I'm fine. How are you Tubs?" Tommy brushed it off. He was fine. He was fine. He was fine. Oh, he was beginning to choke on another flower. Tubbo answered with a cherry smile before leaving him alone, Tommy hid away in his shack as he began to hack wildly to rid himself of the flower, a buttercup. Beautiful flowers, but nothing that he really cared for at the minute.

He coughed up a couple Yellow Tulip petals as well, which he scoffed at as he whipped his mouth clear of blood. He could do this. He's got this.

He hates Tubbo.

Pain elicited up Tommy's back and he whimpered as he curled in on himself. What is happening now ? Tommy bit back a scream as a searing pain shot through his back. He choked up another flower, Marigold. Pain and grief. Tommy groaned as another wave of searing pain shot through him.

A breath as he continued that he hated Tubbo, wanted nothing to do with the co-leader of Snow Chester. The pain continued to increase and soon. Nothing. He felt nothing. The pain was gone and so were a lot of the flowers he could typically feel clogging his throat or lungs.

A thought of Tubbo and hatred swept through him.

Was it really that easy? Figuring out who was fake and then forcing himself to hate them until it was true? Tommy winced in pain as he thought about how hard that would be. He had relations with everybody . Good or bad, he had a relationship with them.

He took a breath as he laid on his bed and closed his eyes. He'd sleep and tomorrow he would figure out the next person... Maybe.

So... Finding people and trying to hate them was going to be hard if he was in Techno's cabin. He doesn't know when he got here, how he got here or why he was here... But he was and that's what concerned him.

"Tommy! Thank you Prime, you're awake!" Phil exclaimed, climbing up a ladder into the room that Tommy resided in.

"Why am I here?" He asked, his eyes careful and analysing as he saw how Phil fretted over him. It was too real to be faked. Too genuine. Tommy decided that Phil couldn't be one of the people that hated him. There was no way that it was possible. If it was Techno, he might doubt himself, but this is Phil.

"You were covered in blood, Tommy. With flower petals scattered around you! I panicked and brought you here. I wanted you in my nest, but Techno wanted you in his Den. We compromised and put you in the main cabin." Phil explained, a bowl of soup in his hands that he handed to Tommy after he sat up.

"But... Why would you care ?" Tommy asked, slowly sipping on the soup as he analysed Phil's reactions. Phil seemed to notice and a sadness covered his eyes. Warmth flooded through Tommy suddenly. A small bud bloomed on his thumb that only Tommy noticed, it was tiny, only 1/2 an inch in total. It was a Hydrangea. Love and family. Tommy almost cried, not because the flower hurt, because it didn't, but because he has never had a family before.

"You okay Tommy?" Phil asked, and Tommy looked up at him and nodded, moving his thumb, and the tiny flower, the tiny bloom, showed itself, and Phil almost cried. "Growing plants from yourself is something... Is something Mother Nature, specifically her daughter Spring, has to give to someone. Did you know that?" Phil asked, and Tommy shook his head no.

"I didn't... I didn't know that." Tommy sighed, looking down and finishing the soup and handing it back to Phil. He didn't feel the flowers in his lungs, didn't feel hatred for anyone. Only love for his family, which might only be Phil. It might be Phil and Techno. It could include Ghostbur, the spirit of his dead brother, or it could be all three. He didn't know, and he would figure it out later.

A Snowdrop formed on his wrist and he looked at it curiously.

"Hope. Purity. Consolation. Sympathy... Innocence." Phil murmured, looking at the snowdrop, that formed into a tattoo on his wrist, that Tommy somehow knew would move to where he wanted it, should he deem it. He was okay with it on his wrist for now.

"How did you know that?" Tommy asked, looking up at Phil curiously. He noticed the book in his hand moments later and face palmed.

Phil chuckled as he showed Tommy the page he was on.

"I've come to recognise flowers around me by a glance. Snowdrop was one I had never spotted before." Phil explained, "It has evolved to symbolise sympathy and consolation. The white of the snowdrop symbolises innocence and purity. Because it is the first flower to bloom at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, it also symbolises hope." He read off the page and Tommy hummed as he listened to him.

"Cool." Tommy muttered, and Phil snorted at him. "Can I see Techno?" He asked suddenly, changing topics as soon as he could so he could no longer feel embarrassed, but he knew that it wouldn't be long before he had to change topics again.

"Sure... He's in his Den sulking. I can bring you down to the living room, but then I have to leave you there for Techno to sense and sniff his way out of it." Phil sighed, knowing he currently wasn't allowed in the Den as Techno sulked about not having Tommy in there.

"Okay... You're not staying with me?" Tommy asked, fear lacing his voice, just barely there.

"Techno's upset with me, currently." Phil chuckled, shaking his head as Tommy stood up as quickly as he could. He promptly fell, but Phil caught him. "Slow down there, mate. We don't want you injured more than you already are healing from. Okay?"

"Okay... Fine... But I wanna see Techno, and you... But I wanna make sure Techno doesn't secretly hate me."